3 Reasons to Like the Youkilis Trade

You’ve heard Kevin Youkilis has been traded, right? Of course you have, and you may hate what the Red Sox got in return but here are three reasons Ben Cherington got it right and a prediction about how the Red Sox will win the World Series.

Will Middlebrooks is better than Youkilis at third base. Adrian Gonzalez is better than Youkilis at first base. David Ortiz is better than Youkilis as the designated hitter. Cody Ross is a better right fielder than Adrian Gonzalez. The Red Sox now have their best defensive lineup out there every night.

Youkilis would never have been happy as a bench guy. He is clearly well respected by his teammates and has selflessly helped Middlebrooks to settle into his role in the big leagues. That’s classy stuff from the incumbent who was clearly aware that Middlebrooks was set to replace him. That said, he was clearly unhappy with the situation and how things were being (or not being) communicated. On a few occasions now communication appears to have been a problem between the Manager, Front Office and Youkilis. It doesn’t take much for disharmony to ripple out through a clubhouse (or anywhere) so moving the situation forward helps both the team and Youkilis avoid any larger issues.

Adrian Gonzalez has played the last 5 games solely at first base and is on a five game hitting streak. Hitting .350 with a homerun and 3 strikeouts over that stretch, in his previous five games where he played right field along with some first base he was batting .200 with no home runs and 6 strikeouts, coincidence? Maybe, but even Bobby Valentine admitted that switching Gonzalez back and forth between right and first could be having a negative effect on the All-star first baseman. With the trade A-Gon will be pencilled in at first everyday.

As for how the Red Sox will win the world series, anyone who had heard of Brent Lillibridge before last night knows he has a penchant for extraordinary catches and his ‘Dave Roberts moment’ will come when the Red Sox need something spectacular in the outfield to survive.